In the AEC world Revit has become the default hub of collaboration (whether that is appropriate or not)...mostly because architects are brought on as the lead design consultant for many projects. This has put civil engineers and landscape architects in the difficult position of designing in a environment not built for their needs. Civil engineers at least have another design suite built for them, Civil 3D and InfraWorks. Landscape architects are left in the dark by Autodesk.

This article from AEC Mag (http://aecmag.com/59-features/1241-autodesk-project-quantum-revit-bim) outlines Autodesk's vision for increasing the specialization of their existing product and creating a new collaboration hub that is friendly to non-Autodesk products. For example, Revit's capability will be specifically tailored for architect and may even lose tools.

From Jim Awe:"...by delivering specialized, targeted applications, instead of huge, monolithic programmed, Autodesk can avoid trying to serve too many people with applications overloaded with functionality. In the BIM world, collaborative workflows and sharing are still way too cumbersome."

Does this mean that we should stop bending Revit to accommodate other uses, such as site grading and design? I know several civil and landscape firms that have made huge time investments to creating custom workflows in Revit. Are these efforts in vain if Project Quantum gives designers the freedom to use the technology that is most appropriate for the trade?

From my GC perspective this is also an issue for me - as I'll have to have all these specialized programs available to me for my necessary coordination activities.

I can see the logic behind specializing the software (right tool for the job and all that) but this ends up building silos of information that are more difficult to bring together and review. Even now there are things produced in Civil3D that cannot be viewed in any other software - this presents a challenge to coordination and collaboration.

What you've just described is the PRIME motivator for the existence of OpenBIM (buildingSMART).

I think in recent years, even Autodesk (to their credit) have recognized that one tool cannot be adept at everything (in my world of specifications, there is physically no place in Revit to put the level of detailed information I need). I think their decision to become a hub, and embrace IFC exchange will help them to remain relevant in coming years.

buildingSMART International has plenty of standards under way for enabling federated applications to talk to each other about the same virtual BIM model.

Consider tuning into the next Members Forum on April 24 to get a snapshot of everything that bSI is doing.

PS: The BEST way for users like you to encourage support by software vendors is to ask for it (or vote with your software purchases).